Pasadena ISD receives a $200,000 grant on Tuesday, Oct. 22 from TG to assist with the college promotion efforts at Pasadena Early College High School. District officials and Pasadena Early College representatives were on hand to receive the award (from left): Rikitra Stewart, grant compliance coordinator, Steve Laymon, associate superintendent of campus development, TG representative Jenny Achilles, Superintendent Dr. Kirk Lewis, Sheri Dennis, Pasadena Early College dean of instruction, and Claudia Harmon, a counselor at Pasadena Early College. Pasadena Early College High School has about 200,000 reasons to celebrate. TG, a non-profit educational organization, awarded the school a grant for nearly $200,000 on Tuesday, Oct. 22 to support college readiness initiatives. Funding from the grant will be used to support a summer acceleration program and provide need-based aid to students for tutoring and tuition costs for college courses. Pasadena Early College High School Dean of Instruction Sheri Dennis says faculty, staff and especially students and their families will be celebrating this generous contribution from TG for years to come. “On behalf of the Pasadena Independent School District, I would like to thank TG for supporting our students through this generous grant award,” Dennis said. “Our students represent families in which approximately 64 percent of parents did not graduate from high school. These students have the opportunity to impact not only future generations within their own families, but the community served by Pasadena ISD. We are proud of our students’ accomplishments and look forward to future achievements made possible by TG." Headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, TG promotes postsecondary educational access and success by offering resources to help students and families plan and prepare for college, learn the basics of money management, and repay their federal student loans. TG officials, including Jenny Achilles, who made a special guest appearance to the administration building to present the check, said they are honored to fund – for the first time – Pasadena ISD’s first secondary dual-credit program. “TG is very pleased to make this contribution to Pasadena ISD and the Early College High School,” said TG’s President and CEO, Sue McMillin. “We believe their efforts, not only promoting the importance of a postsecondary education, but also giving students the opportunity to actually earn college credits while in high school provides an overall benefit to our state in terms of creating more educated workforce able to compete in a global economy. In September 2010, Pasadena ISD and San Jacinto Community College jointly created Pasadena Early College High to increase high school and college graduation rates among students who are not widely represented on college campuses. District officials submitted a grant proposal to TG in hopes that it could help facilitate their mission. “We were excited to discover how well TG’s mission fit with the Pasadena Early College High School program," Olivia Smith-Daugherty, Pasadena ISD’s grant writer said. "The funding will allow us to grow the program and help students realize they are able to attend college, making this award impactful for the entire Pasadena community.”